Airship



Au 4, 1931. HuETTE AIRSHIP Filed Nov. 2, 1929 Iwvc-n/far:

Patented Aug. 4, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIRSHII Application filed November 2, 1929, Serial No. 404,320, and in Germany October 12, 1929.

It is universally known that the movement of a body in a fluid medium such as water or air produces or sets up, due to friction, eddies the progressive movements of which, in their totality, coincide with the running direction or course of the air-ship. The energy stored up in such a zone of eddies is called friction work. Theoretrically it is possible that, in case of suflicient friction and in sufficient length of the body, a portion of such a zone in closest proximity to the said body might acquire a.velocity equal to that of the body, but practically this is not so for several reasons, so that the said zone II: will not and cannot acquire any further increase of velocity at any or a certain place at the various cross-sections of the body. This place is a function of the shape and kind of the outer surface of the body, the in Velocity thereof and of the nature of the medium in which the same moves. The said place, however, varies in accordance with the position of the body in or relative to its moving direction. In respect to the mov- :5 ing body this current or drift is called aftdrift and, in respect to the propeller, the same is called fore-drift or current. Generally speaking, the efficiency of a propeller may be said to be the greater, the larger ."n the fore-drift or current is in which the propeller works. In many cases, however, only a fraction of that amount of energy can be recovered which has been spent for producing such a fore-drift or current. The perception and knowledge of this drift or current phenomenon gave rise to the invention of sundry various forms and configurations of the propellers, the stern of the air-ships and the rudders and of various 4:) arrangements of guiding and stabilizing surfaces;

According to the present invention an efficient utilization of the aft-drift or current and consequently a marked improvement in 4.7 the efiiciency of the fore-drift or current is attained and realized by so arranging and distributing a plurality of the propellers on the body of the air-ship that such propellers will work at the most suitable places of and under the most favorable and efvthereof in closest proximity to each other ficient conditions in the said aft-drift or current.

In consideration of the size and the particularitics of the aft-drift or current, the diameter of the propellers and the distribution of the weights or loads on the body of the air-ship, the object aimed at will be best attained and realized by providing propellers at the stern of the air-ship, preferably circumferen'tially in a vertical plane a suitable distance remote from the usual guiding appliances, and disposing such ropellers over and above the whole circum erence of the body of the air-ship or the major part and to the body of the air-ship. As regards the size or diameter of the several propellers, the same depends essentially upon the thickness or volume of the aft-drift or current to be expected to set up at the places 7t concerned. Moreover I have found and ascertained in practice that the provision and arrangement of the said propellers in front of the guiding surfaces and rudders will greatly assist in improving the dirigibility and ease of steering the air-ship.

The further objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from the following description of an embodiment thereof, read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic lay out of the stern or rear end of an air-ship provided with a system of propellers according to the present invention, and Figure 2 is a View in cross-section on the line IIII of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure 1 the zone of'the aft-drift or current is indicated by two dashlines aa, which are to, be understood to denote, in the plane of the cross-sectional line IIII, an annular zone or layer of the thickness designated by B and surrounding the body of the air ship, as shown. In Figure 2 the annular zone is indicated by the confining circular dash-line d. As will be seen in Figure 1 the annular zone changes its form in the rear of the body of the airship so as to adopt a compact cylindrical shape of the diameter E. a

In the vertical plane denoted by the line N IIII a number of propellers p, twelve in the embodiment illustrated, are provided outside of the body of the air-ship and the propellers are preferably so located and dimensioned that they will occupy, in their totality, a large, if esired or preferred, the largest possible portion of the sectional area of the annular zone. The source of power and the constructional means for driving the twelve propellers may be of any appropriate kind. As shown in Figure 2 for exemplification purposes, two motorsm, mare mounted Within the frame work or body of the airship and the power-shafts w of the two motors comprise each a plurality of individual shafts which are interconnected by joints 9, so as to form or constitute two series of six shafts on the inner circumference of the body or frame work of the air-ship, the one series of interconnected shafts being positively driven by the one motor and the other series being driven by the other motor. Midway between each two adjacent joints 9- a bevel gear is provided for transmitting, through suitable gearing shafts k, the revolution of the shafts 2 to the shafts of the propellers p, respectively.

As the efficiency of a single propeller p is but small, comparatively, due to the large number of the propellers accommodated in the available space, a bevel gear transmission arrangement of the described kind will not encounter any difiiculties, as regards con struction, erection and operation.

Further the shafts w, the joints 9 and the intermediate shafts is may be supported in askeleton ring or annular framing forming a part of the body structure and constructed to afford access to the individual members of the arrangement. In some cases, however, I find it advisable to mount the motors outside of the body of the air-ship in a separate car or cars and connect the motors with displaceable shafts supported in universal joints or bearings and equipped with bevel gears and projecting into the interior of the body of the air-ship, preferably as far as the centre 0 thereof, so that the several propellers can be positively connected with this central point for the driving purpose by means of the shafts or rods of equal length and suitable bevel gearing. But it goes without mentioning that, if necessary or preferred, each individual propeller may be equipped, just as in a flying machine, with a motor of its own, or energy for driving the propellers may be derived from a central source of electrical power.

Though I have described with great particularity of detail a specific embodiment of my invention, I have not attempted to explain all of the minute details of the construction of the propelling system, for it will be understood by those to Whom this specification is addressed, that the parts will necessarily be of the proper size and relationship, and will be properly mounted and supported according to the tenets of mach1ne construction.

It is obvious that changes might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the gplrit and scope of my invention; hence I 0 not wish to limit myself strictly to the structure or embodiment herein shown, but I' aim in the appended claim to embrace all modifications falling fairly within the scope of my invention.

What I claim is A drivin system for airships having stabilizing and steering gears comprising a lurality of propellers arranged and secure on the airship around the rear part and in front of the stabilizing and steering gears of the airship, said propellers being substantially arranged in the annular space of the aftdrift of the ship whereby the propellers do not reach to the zone of the eddies, and the propellers being arranged at a distance from the stabilizing and steering gears which is less than the depth of the stabilizing and steering planes.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

J OHAN N SCHUETTE. 

